Tirreno-Adriatico: Sagan wins stage 4, Horner seizes lead

Peter Sagan has used his explosive power to win the fourth stage of Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy, proving best out of a five man group which forced its way clear inside the tough final two kilometres of the stage to Chieti.

The 22 year old Slovak jumped hard inside the final 200 metres to overhaul his Liquigas Cannondale team-mate Vincenzo Nibali, who had attacked out of that group moments earlier but didn’t have the same strength.

Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil DCM) was best of the rest, eight seconds back.

“We played a two-rider strategy,” said Sagan after the stage. “It was important to win for Liquigas-Cannondale. I’m sorry that Vincenzo didn’t manage to win. But I saw that Di Luca was coming back up and so I went one last time to make sure we won.

“I feel good and I’m on good form. I hope it lasts for the Classics. Milan-Sanremo is the first Classic that could be for me and I want to do well, even if luck plays a big part. It’s my first goal. Tomorrow we’ll try and do the stage for Vincenzo. I’m ready to work for him. We’ll see if we can win.”

Defending champion Cadel Evans was prominent when the finishing climb started but cracked and slipped backwards, losing time. He placed ninth, twelve seconds back, and is now 53 seconds off the race lead in 20th overall.

Horner took over the race lead from previous jersey holder Matt Goss (GreenEdge), ending the day seven seconds clear of Kreuziger and a further six up on Goss’ team-mate Cameron Meyer. Sagan and Di Luca are next, 21 and 22 seconds back respectively.

“Before the race today I thought for sure I might have the leader’s jersey at the end of the day,” Horner said afterwards. “After the team time trial on Sunday, Fabian Cancellara and all the big riders on my team did a fantastic job, so today they protected me from the wind and brought me to the front at the bottom of the climb. Cancellara got me in position and then I knew to follow the moves from the best riders on the day. “

Once the selection was made, Horner knew he was riding into the leader’s jersey. However there was a danger in the group. “Roman Kreuziger came along and threw an attack in on the three of us and I had to bridge that,” he said. “He was the biggest threat to us on GC so I had to respond in order to take the jersey.”

After a small error at the end, he had to push hard to ensure he didn’t lose any time to the Astana rider. “In the final [sprint] to the line I accidentally shifted from the big chain ring to the small one and my hands were cramping up. I couldn’t get it back up to do the sprint, leaving me to just spin the cranks at 130rpms to the finish, all the while losing ground,” he said.

Before that, Katusha rider Pavel Brutt was one of seven riders who clipped clear soon after the start of the stage. He was the last to be caught, finally being reeled in twelve kilometres from the end, and expressed some frustration.

“I feel in a great shape, but I'm disappointed I still haven't found the right breakaway,” he stated.

Slow start enables break to build large advantage:

A septet of riders clipped clear eight kilometres after the start in Amelia, showing little hesitation despite today’s leg being the longest of the race at 252 kilometres.

The bunch’s slow start turned around, though, and by kilometre 135 this had dropped to four minutes 18 seconds. Inside the final forty kilometres, the septet were just a minute and a half clear.

Pirazzi was taking advantage of his position in the break to add to his lead in the mountains classification.

The seven leaders dropped to four when Hulsman, Mondory and Pagani cracked, slipping backwards. The latter was able to claw his way back up again, but had no answer when Brutt pushed on ahead inside the final 25 kilometres.

His advantage was slight, though, and Boaro tried to get back up to him. Their efforts were in vain, though, with the chaser being hauled back fifteen kilometres from the line. Brutt’s own push for victory ended twelve kilometres from the line but, in truth, the steep final two kilometres meant that he would have had to have a much bigger advantage to stay clear.

The action heats up:

Several attacks were fired off from the bunch, which had already seen race leader Matt Goss (GreenEdge) crack and slip backwards.

Evans’ BMC Racing Team moved to the front coming towards the end of the stage and that tough two kilometre drag to the line. Alessandro Ballan and George Hincapie worked hard for the Australian, who was well positioned when the leaders hit the base of that last climb.

With 1.8 kilometres to go Nibali tried to accelerate, but was swamped. The Farnese Vini team moved to the front, with Evans in close attendance. Di Luca was also prominent, and appeared to be going well.

With 1.5 kilometres to go Johnny Hoogerland (Vancansoleil) put in a huge effort, gapping the group. Evans led the chase, then Di Luca accelerated, followed by Horner. Evans appeared to crack and slipped backwards.

Peter Sagan hit the front with 1.1 kilometres to go, driving hard. His acceleration was covered by Di Luca, with Horner a few lengths back and Roman Kreuziger just behind him. Going under the kite, Kreuziger jumped hard; Horner chased him down, though, bringing things back together.

Nibali was next to try, surging forward and being chased by Di Luca. Sagan wasn’t prepared to wait, though, and surged, passing both and going on to take the win.

Kreuziger got by Nibali for second, while Di Luca and Horner were fourth and fifth.